So far, Facebook has made sure to offer apps for just about any smartphone you could get your hands one – iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Sidekick, Windows Phone, etc. Still, the company was missing out on one of the biggest mobile markets – feature phones.
Today, the company announced that it is launching a new mobile app “to bring Facebook to the most popular mobile phones around the world.”
Last year, the company began offering Facebook Zero through 50 mobile operators in 45 countries as a way of ensuring ubiquitous access to the social network. Today’s launch of a feature phone app will bring a new mobile experience to 14 mobile operators and will work on more than 2,500 devices.
“The app provides a better Facebook experience for our most popular features, including an easier-to-navigate home screen, contact synchronization, and fast scrolling of photos and friend updates,” writes mobile program manager Mark Heynen in the announcement. “We also wanted to make it available to as many people as possible. Similar to the 0.facebook.com site, we’ve worked with mobile operators from around the world to let you try this without paying for any data charges. The 14 mobile operators listed below are offering free data access when using the new Facebook mobile app during the first 90 days after they launch.”
These mobile operators stretch across the globe, from Sri Lanka to the Ukraine to the Dominican Republic and more carriers in other countries are on the way.
How long will it take for Facebook to reach 1 billion users now that it can reach the entire feature phone bearing world?